Hobby horse foot step and stirrup



Dec. 29, 1959 w. P. CANADY HOBBY HORSE FOOT STEP AND STIRRUP Filed March 29, 1957 INVENTOR W LLLLAM P. CANADY ATTORNEY United States Patent HOBBY HORSE FOOT STEP AND STIRRUP William P. Canady, Hammond, Ind.

Application March 29, 1957, Serial No. 649,446

3 Claims. (Cl. 272-525) This invention relates to a hobby horse foot step and stirrup and has for an object to provide a foot step or foot step and stirrup that can be readily and easily attached to one or both sides of a hobby horse of the type that is provided with spaced apart supporting dowels extending therethrough.

A further object of this invention is to provide a simple step and stirrup that may be readily attached and detached from a hobby horse that has spaced apart supporting dowels extending therethrough, wherein the hobby horse is suspended by springs detachably secured to the ends of the supporting dowels, the other ends of the springs being on any suitable supporting framework. A hobby horse of this general nature is illustrated in U.S. Patent No. 2,758,632.

A further object of this invention is to provide a hobby horse foot step and stirrup which may be made from metal such as steel tubing or from molded high impacted type plastic, and which may be assembled into a rigid one-piece device and thereafter be mounted on the hobby horse by merely temporarily removing the suspending springs from ends of the hobby horse supporting dowels, sliding supporting sleeve portions of the step and stirrup over the supporting dowels, and then reattaching the suspending springs to the ends of the dowels.

A further object of this invention is to provide a foot step and stirrup which may be readily attached to a dowel supported hobby horse and make it possible for a small child to easily mount the hobby horse by himself without the help of another person, and also serves as a stirrup when the hobby horse is being ridden, or as a pair of stirrups when one is mounted on each side of the hobby horse, and also provides a means for the child .0 dismount from the hobby horse without danger of injury on the dowels and suspending springs.

A further object of this invention is to provide an attachable foot step and stirrup for a hobby horse thus enabling the child to use a larger hobby horse by himself than would otherwise be possible, thus greatly lengthening the period during which one size of hobby horse will be usable by a growing child.

With the above and related objects in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the step and stirrup by itself.

Fig. 2 is a perspective exploded view of a hobby horse showing how the foot step and stirrup of this invention is assembled thereon.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the step and stirrup as mounted on the hobby horse.

There is shown at a known type of hobby horse for a child which hobby horse is provided with a pair of spaced apart supporting dowels 12 and 14 extending "ice through both sides of the hobby horse 10. At each end of each dowel 12 and 14, there is provided a suspending spring 16 and 18 arranged to be detachably secured thereto at one end, the other end of each spring being attached to any suitable type of supporting stand such as shown at 20. As shown, the supporting standard 20 is similar to that illustrated in Patent No. 2,758,632 and includes four supporting legs 22 from which the springs 16 and 18 are suspended.

The foot step and stirrup of this invention as shown at 26 consists of a bridging plate 28 extending a distance substantially equal to the over-all distance between the spaced apart dowels 12 and 14. At the opposite ends of the bridging plate 28 there are provided upright standards 30 and 32 rigidly connected thereto, and at the top of each standard 30 and 32 there is provided a hollow sleeve 34 and 36, the hollow sleeves 34 and 36 extending parallel to each other and at right angles to the length of the bridging plate 28. Each hollow sleeve 34 and 36 is of a minimum diameter to extend over the dowels 12 and 14, and is of a length slightly less than the projecting length of the dowels 12 and 14 so as not to extend beypnd the spring attaching ends of the dowels 12 and 14.

As illustrated, the hollow sleeves 34 and 36 are square, but obviously may be circular in cross-section, and similarly the upright suspending standards 30 and 32 may likewise be shaped other than shown. The bridging plate 28 may be either solid or may be hollow either inside or completely underneath, so long as it is of sufiicient strength to support the largest child that might want to ride the hobby horse 10.

The sleeves 34 and 36 are each permanently attached to the standards 30 and 32 at 38 and 40 and at their bottom ends are permanently attached to the bridging plate 28 at 42 and 44. When the bridging plate 28,

. standards 30 and 32, and sleeves 34 and 36 are of metal or steel piping, the securing means 38, 40, 42 and 44 may be welding or the like, while when the step is made of high impact type of plastic, the securing means would be a suitable plastic securing means.

Although this invention has been described in considerable details, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A foot step and stirrup for a hobby horse of the type that has spaced apart supporting dowels extending therethrough, said step and stirrup comprising supporting means arranged to be mounted on the hobby horse spaced apart dowels, and a bridging plate suspended from and secured to said supporting means, said bridging plate providing a step by which the hobby horse can be mounted and a stirrup for supporting the foot when the hobby horse is ridden, said supporting means comprising spaced apart means to engage over the spaced apart dowels and suspending means depending from each spaced apart engaging means and secured to opposite ends of said bridging plate, each said spaced apart engaging means comprising a hollow sleeve arranged to envelop a dowel.

2. The step and stirrup of claim 1, said suspending means comprising standards secured at their upper ends to said sleeves and at their lower ends to said opposite ends of said bridging plate.

3. A foot step and stirrup for a hobby horse of the type that has spaced apart supporting dowels extending therethrough and spring suspending means detachably secured to the ends of each dowel, said step-and stirrup comprising a bridging plate, a suspending standard se- References Cited in the file of this patent eured'to Said bridging plate at each opposite end thereof, H p

and a hollow sleeve extending at right angles to the length UNITED STATES PATENTS of said bridging plate secured at the top of each said Re. 23,849 Baltz July 13, 1954 standard at the same spaced apart distance as the spaced 5 1,315,332 Rigby ..i;. Sept. 9, 1919 apart supporting dowels and arranged to extend over and 2,743,104 Dodson Apr. 24, 1956 be supported and held on said dowels. 2,806,698 Thoeming Sept. 17, 1957 

